The Soyuz TMA-13M rocket is launched, as seen in
this 30-second exposure, with Expedition 40 Soyuz Commander Maxim Suraev, of the
Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst, of the
European Space Agency, ESA, and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman of NASA, Thursday,
May 29, 2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Suraev, Gerst, and
Wiseman will spend the next five and a half months aboard the International
Space Station.
Image Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Three
crew members representing the United States, Russia and Germany are on their
six-hour journey to the International Space Station after launching from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:57 p.m. EDT Wednesday (1:57 a.m. Thursday
in Baikonur).
The Soyuz capsule carrying Reid Wiseman of NASA, Soyuz Commander Maxim Suraev
of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Alexander Gerst of the
European Space Agency, is scheduled to dock with the space station at 9:48
p.m.
NASA Television coverage of docking will begin at 9 p.m. Hatches are
scheduled to open at about 11:25 p.m., with NASA TV coverage starting at 11
p.m.
The arrival of Wiseman, Suraev and Gerst returns the station's crew
complement to six. The three will join Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson of
NASA and Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos, who have been
aboard the complex since March.
Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev will return home in September, at which time,
Suraev will become commander of the station for Expedition 41. Wiseman, Suraev
and Gerst will return to Earth in November 2014.
The Soyuz TMA-13M rocket is launched with
Expedition 40 Soyuz Commander Maxim Suraev, of the Russian Federal Space Agency,
Roscosmos, Flight Engineer Alexander Gerst, of the European Space Agency, ESA,
and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman of NASA in the early hours of Thursday, May 29,
2014 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Suraev, Gerst, and Wiseman will
spend the next five and a half months aboard the International Space Station.
Image Credit:
NASA/Joel Kowsky
The
crew members will conduct hundreds of scientific investigations and technology
demonstrations during their six-month sojourn on the orbiting laboratory. These
include Earth remote sensing, an assessment of human behavior and performance,
and studies of bone and muscle physiology.
The Comm Delay Assessment study will evaluate the effects of delayed
communications on interplanetary crews during medical and other emergencies in
deep space. In addition to time delays experienced as they travel farther away
from Earth, uncertainty in performing a crucial task can affect crew performance
and interaction. Three crew members will perform eight tasks, with and without
50-second delays added. These tasks will vary in their level of stress and
familiarity. This type of research may help refine procedures for Earth-based
teams that operate in extreme or remote environments with intermittent or no
contact with its Earth-base experts.
A new engineering investigation will help NASA collect data for studying the
loads, or force, placed on a crew member’s body during exercise on the space
station. The Force Shoes investigation is an evaluation of the XSENS ForceShoe
system as a potential method for making these measurements. Initially,
researchers will be validating the XSENS ForceShoe system technology. The
ultimate goal of using ForceShoe is to provide researchers with data they will
use to calculate the force felt at specific joints, such as the ankle, knee and
hip. Enhancing researchers’ understanding of exercise form and the forces
applied to the human body while using spaceflight exercise hardware will help
them recommend the best exercise regimens for astronauts to maintain their bone
mass and muscle strength while in microgravity. This data also will be applied
to populations on Earth restricted from exercise by injury, age, lifestyle or
confined work and living space.
The new crew members will perform several other experiments that cover human
health and safety, biological and physical sciences, technology development, and
Earth observations, as well as engage in educational activities. The crew will
conduct a pair of Russian spacewalks and as many as three U.S. spacewalks. They
also will greet two Russian Progress spacecraft resupply flights, the final
European ATV cargo spacecraft, Orbital Science's second commercial resupply
flight, and the fourth supply delivery for SpaceX.
Among the cargo the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will deliver is a new instrument
to monitor ocean winds from the station. That information will be useful for
weather forecasting, hurricane monitoring and climate studies. From its vantage
point on the orbital outpost, the ISS-Rapid Scatterometer (ISS-RapidScat) will
calculate ocean surface wind speeds and directions using radar pulses reflected
off the ocean’s surface.
The International Space Station is a convergence of science, technology and
human innovation that demonstrates new technologies and makes research
breakthroughs not possible on Earth. Humans have continuously inhabited the
space station since November 2000. In that time, more than 200 visitors have
conducted more than 1,500 experiments, and a variety of international and
commercial spacecraft have docked to the station. The space station remains the
springboard to NASA's next great leap in exploration.
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For more information about the International Space Station, its crew members
and their research activities, visit:
